The meeting to be chaired by
Andrew Forrest
in Melbourne on October 24 won’t have the usual prepared briefings and lengthy agendas on the table. Instead, Forrest is asking everyone involved in the new government-backed review into indigenous training and employment to come along with “a clean sheet of paper’’.

“We just want to look at what works and what doesn’t,’’ he says. “There’s no agenda beyond the goal of ending the disparity and getting Aboriginal people into work and off welfare.’’

Forrest’s long-held passion for increasing Aboriginal participation in the workforce is one of the reasons
Tony Abbott
has just appointed him to chair the government’s review. The
Fortescue Metals Group
chairman says he wants a “collaborative’’ approach but it’s a fair bet the review won’t follow a typically bland bureaucratic script.

Forrest has always challenged – and regularly upset – the established order. He has the critics to show for it. His role in indigenous affairs already includes helping set up training colleges with guaranteed jobs in the mining industry and having employers Australia-wide to commit to 60,000 places for Aboriginal employees – with about 15,000 positions filled so far.

He’s also long been critical of the way employment agencies operate for Aborigines via Job Services Australia – given that less than one quarter going into jobs are still there six months later compared to almost 80 per cent in the Forrest-backed model.

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Slavery targeted

And while Forrest is now busier than ever, his packed schedule has less and less to do with the detail of iron ore prices or the daily operations of the company he set up and which has made his fortune. Instead, his seemingly inexhaustible energy is taken up to an ever greater degree by a daunting range of philanthropic activities. On October 23, for example, Forrest will attend the global launch in Melbourne of a new campaign to eradicate forced labour or slavery in the world’s supply chains. The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply represents 100,000 members who will now be formally committed to ensuring their supply chains don’t inadvertently make use of slave labour anywhere in the world.

On October 17, Forrest will be at Chatham House in London to launch the first global slavery index that ranks countries according to their use of forced labour. India tops that list followed by China. This has the potential to be highly sensitive diplomatically – especially given the importance of Australia’s trade relationships with both countries.

But Forrest says he has had discussions and acceptance with Chinese authorities “at the highest levels’’ about why the annual index will be so useful.

He argues that the context is not about the world judging India or China but having them work with the world to eliminate slavery.

“It does impact bilateral relationships given this is an Australian initiative,’’ he says. “But there is no reason why it should not impact them positively given the net benefits to any economy of ending slavery.’’

Family passion

Actually, this is less an Australian initiative than a Forrest family one that has gone global thanks to Forrest’s drive, contacts and personal contribution. It started after their daughter visited an orphanage in Nepal while she was still at school. On a subsequent visit, the family realised many of the children had since been sold into the sex trade or other forms of forced labour.

Forrest, with his limitless ambition, decided to tackle this as a global problem through the establishment of the Walk Free Foundation. He convinced
Julia Gillard
to commit the Australian government to ensuring government purchases of supplies don’t make use of any forced labour, no matter how distantly removed. He also has won backing from the Clinton Global Initiative, started by Bill and Hillary Clinton to get global leaders to find solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

But there are so many other projects, large and small, West Australian or worldwide, it’s hard to keep up. From early childhood centres in Perth to families affected by AIDS in Ethiopia to GenerationOne to combat Aboriginal disadvantage. And it’s a family affair in every sense.

The Forrests’ 20-year-old daughter Grace, for example, has just come back from a trip to North Korea where she has been involved in a teaching initiative and visiting the orphanages there that are partially funded by a charity that the Forrests support.

Last February, Nicola and Andrew Forrest joined other global corporate leaders like
Bill and Melinda Gates
,
Warren Buffett
and
Richard Branson
in signing “the giving pledge" – dedicating most of their wealth to philanthropy. As of June, the total provided by the Forrest family foundation is $270 million. There will be plenty more announcements to come.

This week, West Australian Governor Malcolm McCusker launched the bringing together of the Forrests’ charitable foundation with their business holdings of about a third of FMG – worth about $5 billion. The new entity will be called the Minderoo Group. The name means “permanent and clean water’’ and is the name of the north-west cattle station where Forrest grew up and which he has since re-purchased.

Forrest says the decision to combine business and philanthropic arms is part of a cultural change for both. “I want to have charity managed like a business with hard-edged targets, timelines and being driven by outcomes,’’ he says. ‘’And I want the people in the business arm to know what they are really working for.’’

Forrest, naturally, has never had any doubts about making that add up.